Fuel requirements of a 50-MW wood-fired electrical-generating facility in northern Vermont

Technical Report · Sat Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1978

OSTI ID:5815264

Sherwood, L; Meadows, D

In order to assess the fuel requirements of a 50-MW wood-fired power plant (WFPP) located in northern New England, two factors affecting the heat value of wood - chemical composition and moisture content - are examined. Because the latter is the primary determinant of Btu output, the average moisture content of green wood in the study region, nine counties in northern Vermont, is estimated. At about 47% wet basis, the average moisture content results in an effective heat content, weighted by the relative abundance of species in the region, of about 4100 Btu per pound of green wood harvested in the area. Thus approximately 800,000 green tons of wood chips will be required annually to fuel a 50-MW WFPP operating at 97% capacity in the region. However, equipment that uses waste heat from the plant to reduce the moisture in the fuel prior to combustion could reduce the wood requirements of the facility by up to 30%. Three other estimates of the annual fuel consumption of a 50-MW WFPP have appeared in the literature; they range from 410,000 to 500,000 green tons. These studies use plant capacity factors lower than those made in this study and underestimate the effect of moisture in reducing the conversion efficiency of the plant.

• Research Organization: Dartmouth Coll., Hanover, NH (USA). Thayer School of Engineering
• OSTI ID: 5815264
• Report Number(s): DSD-106
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

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20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS
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29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
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CALORIFIC VALUE
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
COMBUSTION PROPERTIES
CONVERSION
DEMAND FACTORS
EFFICIENCY
ENERGY
ENERGY CONSUMPTION
ENERGY CONVERSION
ENERGY SOURCES
FUEL CONSUMPTION
FUELS
HEAT
MOISTURE
NORTH AMERICA
NORTH ATLANTIC REGION
POWER GENERATION
POWER PLANTS
USA
VERMONT
WASTE HEAT
WASTES
WOOD